Healthy Birth after Use of Sperm from a Male Who Suffered from Copper Toxicity

We report the birth a healthy baby after use of sperm from a male who suffered from copper toxicity due to prolonged occupational exposure to copper dust. The male had been working as plumber for many years. Copper dust inhalation had been occurring very often. Two years ago, the male partner was diagnosed with copper toxicity. After proper treatment of copper toxicity, the couple tried one ICSI cycle elsewhere but failed. At our clinic, the semen evaluation revealed very rare motile sperm. One sample was cryopreserved for ICSI back up. Due to extremely poor acrosome morphology, the oocytes were artificially activated with calcium ionophore. Twentyone oocytes were injected; sixteen showed normal fertilization. The embryo transfer was performed on day five, which resulted in a clinical pregnancy. At six-week ultrasound, one fetal sac and heartbeat were detected. A healthy baby boy was delivered after 36 weeks gestation. The results of this study indicate that pregnancy and healthy birth are possible in a couple when the young male partner has suffered from copper toxicity and has severely compromised sperm quality. Categories: Miscellaneous